The first link you gave me back didn't work & I couldn't find the original, so I'll take your word that the most liberal news organization in the world might have changed its story after the war was over (before the war, it fit their agenda perfectly to tell viewers we were going to be fighting the fourt largest military in the world and we would be seeing tens of thousands of body bags coming home).
The first link was your original link and in the first or second paragraph of the article you posted, they said very clearly that Iraq claimed to be the 4th largest army with 1.2 million men but when all was said and done, there were only 375k men. My link from the Pentagon collaborated that number.
The second link says the following on the front page under "Introduction":
"The reason Iraq annexed Kuwait dates back to the Iran-Iraq War. Saudi Arabia and Kuwait financed the war against Iran. After the war Iraq was left with huge debts to pay off which they refused to pay. Sadam Hussein then accused Kuwait of lowering the oil prices and soon after border tensions increased. Iraqi divisions mobilized near the Kuwaiti border and a tense situation became even worse. On Aug. 2, 1990 Sadam Hussein gave the order for the Iraqi Armed Forces to invade Kuwait.
Iraq had the 4th largest Armed Forces in the world and were able to easily defeat any resistance in Kuwait. Sadam annexed Kuwait and made it one a province within Iraq. The UN condemned the invasion and sanctions were placed on Iraq. Sadam made another mistake, he moved Iraqi divisions close to the Saudi Arabian border. King Fahad, Leader of Saudi Arabia, worried what Sadam might do next invited US forces to his country. Sadam was helped by the US during the Iran-Iraq War and it's because of this he felt confident that the US would not get involved in Kuwait. He also boasted that when US soldiers arrived home in body bags it will be another Vietnam for the US. In the mean time the US organized a Coalition of countries that would remove Iraqi troops from Kuwait. To the US's surprise Afghanistan and Syria joined the US against Iraq. On June 15, 1991 the deadline set by the UN, Resolution 678, for Iraq to withdraw passed but only a few hours later the US and Coalition Forces declared war on Iraq and set out to liberate Kuwait.
I don't care what was believed at a particular point in history, the truth was Iraq did not have an army large enough to qualify as 4th largest.
Perhaps they contradict themselves later in the article. At any rate, I'm intimately familiar with the history of the Gulf War, and have little need to read about it at this time. So knock yourself out.
If you are intimately familiar with the history of the Gulf War, why did you not know the claim of 4th largest army had been revised? Its not like anyone kept it secret.
ted |
